Author: XACT

There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to outsourcing customer service. Many business owners hear these myths and decide to drag their feet or hold off altogether. We’d like to address some of these myths to help you better understand what outsourcing offers.

One of the myths you may have heard is that outsourced agents aren’t able to represent your brand as well as internal employees. That’s not necessarily true. In fact, many outsourcing companies train their agents to ensure they know the accounts they’re representing inside and out. They want to ensure they can act as a true extension of your business. It’s just as important to the outsourcing company for the agents to do a great job.

Another concern that employers often have is that their customers won’t get as good of service as they would from an in-house team. This couldn’t be further from the truth. The fact is businesses that provide outsourced customer service representatives are experts in the service industry. They know what makes for an excellent agent. They know what customers want from support. They have a lot of agents to pull from and many offer 24/7 support and a wide array of support options, including email, text, webchat, and phone.

Another myth some may have heard is that outsourcing is pricey. Different outsourcing companies charge varying rates. You need to investigate and find one that works with your budget. But outsourcing can be an affordable avenue. It provides your internal employees more time to do perform their key duties instead of having to handle customer service responsibilities. It allows you to hire fewer people in-house which can save you money. Think about it –– there will be fewer wages, benefits, and office supplies to cover the costs of full-time employees.

One more misconception some may have is that outsourcing presents a security issue. Many outsourcing companies make security a top priority and will work hard to protect your privacy. If you have any concerns about outsourcing your customer service offerings, please reach out to us. We’d love to talk with you about these concerns and answer any questions you may have.

We’ve come a long way in customer service technology. With all the available options nowadays, your company can’t just rely on telephone customer service options.

Customers expect more from companies like email, text support and/or web chat.

Here’s how to offer chat support and the many benefits it offers:

1. It helps reduce the risk of losing sales. Think about this carefully. When people are shopping online and eyeing up a product or service but have questions, what do you think their next move will be?

If they see an option to chat with a live agent, they may choose to ask the question or address the concern with the agent to determine better if they want to check out or not. However, if chat support isn’t an option, they could decide to risk it and check out or, more likely, abandon the cart. You can reduce the chance of that missed sale by offering chat support.

2. It helps you stay more competitive. You’ll have the edge here if your competitors don’t offer great service or many options for reaching out to them. They’ll have the edge if your competitors offer more service technologies. So, either way, it keeps you competitive by offering chat support.

3. It lowers the chance of customers having to repeat themselves to the agents. It can be incredibly frustrating when you tell an agent something and then have to repeat yourself later. However, with chat support, agents can read what the person said previously, so they don’t have to ask the customer if they have a question.

4. It allows more customers to be helped at one time. With chat support, agents can help more than one customer at a time. This reduces wait time for customers and increases productivity on the agent’s end.

5. It provides service whenever it’s needed. Offering chat support is an easy way to provide 24/7 availability, which means customers will get the help they need whenever they need it.

6. It improves customer satisfaction. Overall, customers are more likely to be happy with your company and your customer support if you offer the option to chat. People love convenience, and live chat offers it.

As you can see, offering live chat support is a win-win. It can help the company meet (and even exceed) the expectations of its customers. It also helps the business stay competitive and increase sales.

Please contact us at XACT when you’re ready to offer chat support or any other customer service technology. We’re here for you.

Empathy is a key element of great customer service. When customers call in with a question or concern they want to feel like the service rep will listen to what they have to say and try to resolve the issue. They want to feel like they’re seen. Being empathetic to the customer can do this and even help turn tense conversations around.

When working with a customer, it’s important to choose words carefully. Customer service reps should allow the customer to finish talking before they interrupt. Don’t rush the customer or make assumptions. Carefully listen to them as they express their needs.

Pay attention to what they’re saying and how they’re saying it. Use this information to help you determine the best way to handle the situation. When they’re done expressing themselves, make sure that they know you heard them. You can say something like, “I understand…. or “let’s see how we can correct this issue.”

It’s important that customers feel like you respect them and want to do what’s best for them. Even if you may not agree with what they’re saying, you need to show them that you respect their feelings and want to do what you can to help resolve the issue. Empathy allows you to show more patience with customers, even when they’re irate.

When a customer comes off strongly, it’s important to consider that there may be other reasons that they’re in a bad mood. They may have had something bad happen that day or didn’t get enough sleep. They may also have had bad customer support with another company so they put up their guard before calling into your customer support. Practicing empathy helps you see outside your personal feelings and understand where someone else is coming from. That’s why it’s an ideal trait for customer service reps to have.

Empathy may not be a trait that everyone possesses instinctively, but it is one that can be learned and practiced. To be an empathetic customer service rep, you need to be cognizant of your client’s feelings. Focus on listening intently and show them that you want to help. By following these tips, you can ensure each and every client has a positive customer service experience.

Finding the right outsourcing partner is essential to business functions. so we understand if you’re taking your time making this decision. First, however, you need to ensure that your partner is flexible, communicates effectively, takes security seriously, and represents your brand with integrity.

You’ll find all of this and more at XACT. However, if you’re still unsure, we’d like to take the fear out of things by explaining our process during implementation and onboarding to you.

Essentially, there are six steps before we officially launch your program:

1. Listen. This is the step where we learn all about your company. We find out what’s working and what’s not working. We also discuss where you want to go with your customer support program. We’ll show you how we do things, but we’ll also ask how you operate. We need to understand your organizational model, business process, and company goals before moving to step two.

2. Develop. This is the step where we take what we learned and design a plan of action. This will be based on your challenges and overall needs. We’ll also take into consideration your tools, effort and budget.

3. Design. Next is when we pull together the plan of action. Our team departments work together to decide on the tools, technology, and talent necessary to make the program successful.

4. Create. In this stage, we’ll get to know each other even further as we develop the content, apps and knowledge needed to make our expertise paramount. The core component of any program is understanding how our clients work, what their customers need and how to present it successfully.

5. Train. Once it’s all together, it’s time to apply our methods to your team. Whether you’re using a dedicated workforce, a blended team or a hybrid, we’ll train knowledge, content and applications in a setting effective for agent learning.

6. Test. Now that we’re ready to launch, we’re going to test end to end together to make sure that you feel we’re all collectively ready to launch your program through practice contacts, quizzing, interactive learning and refinement.

After going through all of these steps, we can officially launch your program. We’ll set a date for the launch and utilize tools and programs to ensure smooth everything runs. You can count on us for quality assurance and appropriate scheduling to ensure agents are available. We’ll also have a team of specialists constantly watching contacts in our system so that nothing ever gets missed. And, you’ll always have a point of contact you can reach to discuss issues and provide feedback.

Our thorough onboarding approach shows that we take time to get to know your company in and out. We work hard to make sure that we’re meeting the needs of our clients (and their customers). Your ongoing satisfaction is important to us, so we’ll continue to have alignment meetings, and meeting with you to discuss program success, optimization and goal coordination. At XACT, your success is our success.

Visit our website to learn more about your processes https://www.myxact.com/

A strong sense of collaboration and community in a workplace can make the difference between an effective and efficient team and one that doesn’t meet its goals. Many leaders struggle with how to build the best teams they can and facilitate collaboration, especially given the uncertainty of recent times and the rapid change it can bring to the workplace.

Here are three key ways that we promote great teamwork that leads to top-notch results:

1. Communication, communication, communication

Communicating well is the foundation of any good team. Communication means two things: speaking and listening.

Speak your mind openly and honestly, and encourage the rest of your team to do the same. Communicate your expectations clearly so that everyone is on the same page. At the same time, listen. Show that you are open to suggestions, concerns, and constructive criticism. Ask questions, and show that you care about the answers. Make it clear that you value the ideas of each member of your team. Make sure your teams are trained and provided with the tools to provide our clients the very best in customer service.

2. Establish some ground rules and aim for improvement over time

Rules don’t have to be restrictive. All groups have rules, whether spoken or unspoken. Make yours clear so that everyone understands them clearly and has a chance to offer suggestions. Norms and guidelines, even simple ones like “treat everyone with respect,” help pave a great team experience. Establish rules early, but be prepared to adapt if they don’t work out. Encourage employees to find innovative ways to refine processes.

3. Be clear about the team’s purpose and goals and reward those who meet them

If the team doesn’t understand the “why” of their work, they have less reason to be motivated, attentive, and enthusiastic. Make sure you and the rest of the team know your long-term goals, the purpose of those goals, and how your current tasks (not to mention each team member’s contributions) fit into that big picture. This will increase motivation among your team members and gives you a clear way to evaluate the progress you all are making both collectively and individually.

With these three steps in mind, your company will be on its way to excellent customer service and effective call center training and management.